US 11,885,822 B2
Apparatuses for reaction screening and optimization, and methods thereof
Nathan Collins, San Mateo, CA (US); Jeremiah Malerich, San Jose, CA (US); Jason D. White, San Jose, CA (US); Kevin Luebke, Staunton, VA (US); Kristina Rucker, Menlo Park, CA (US); and Brian McCoy, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (US)
Appl. No. 16/626,495
Filed by SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (US)
PCT Filed Jun. 29, 2018, PCT No. PCT/US2018/040431
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 24, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/006391, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 3, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/527,365, filed on Jun. 30, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0225251 A1, Jul. 16, 2020
Int. Cl. G01N 35/10 (2006.01); G01N 35/00 (2006.01); G01N 35/04 (2006.01); B01J 19/00 (2006.01); G16C 20/10 (2019.01); G16C 20/70 (2019.01); G16C 10/00 (2019.01)
CPC G01N 35/00613 (2013.01) [B01J 19/0046 (2013.01); G01N 35/00871 (2013.01); G01N 35/04 (2013.01); G01N 35/1002 (2013.01); G16C 10/00 (2019.02); G16C 20/10 (2019.02); G16C 20/70 (2019.02); B01J 2219/00344 (2013.01); B01J 2219/00351 (2013.01); B01J 2219/00495 (2013.01); B01J 2219/00689 (2013.01); B01J 2219/00693 (2013.01); B01J 2219/00695 (2013.01); B01J 2219/00698 (2013.01); G01N 2035/00346 (2013.01); G01N 2035/0403 (2013.01); G01N 2035/0496 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for reaction screening and optimization, comprising:
a substrate including a plurality of reaction vessels;
a dispensing subsystem including a dispenser configured and arranged to deliver reagents to the plurality of reaction vessels for a plurality of reaction mixtures of the reagents in accordance with experimental design parameters, the experimental design parameters including a set of synthetic routes each designed to reach a single target end product according to a plurality of reaction conditions for a plurality of reactions, wherein the plurality of reaction conditions each vary for the plurality of reactions by a plurality of values and include at least one of different reagents and different reagent concentrations, and wherein the single target end product is known and is the same for each of the set of synthetic routes;
at least one reactor module configured and arranged to output energy to drive the plurality of reactions of the reaction mixtures within the plurality of reaction vessels in parallel and at a temperature in accordance with the experimental design parameters to form compositions within the plurality of reaction vessels;
an analysis subsystem configured and arranged to analyze the compositions while contained within the plurality of reaction vessels and after the reactions have begun, the analysis being at a speed on an order of one reaction per second;
an automation subsystem configured and arranged to selectively move the plurality of reaction vessels from a location proximal to the dispensing subsystem to the at least one reactor module and from the at least one reactor module to a location proximal to the analysis subsystem based on the experimental design parameters; and
control circuitry configured and arranged to provide the experimental design parameters to the dispensing subsystem and the automation subsystem for feedback control of the plurality of reactions and to identify optimum reaction conditions for synthetically forming the single target end product based on the analysis of the compositions received from the analysis subsystem, the optimum reaction conditions including a set of reaction conditions to synthetically form the single target end product as optimized for an objective, the set of reaction conditions including select values for each of the plurality of reaction conditions as defined by the experimental design parameters.